CHEECH MARIN (Ramone) gives a colorful performance as the voice of this 1959 Impala low-rider who likes to paint the town with his impressive body art. This marks the actor’s third voice-over contribution to an animated feature from Disney, having previously voiced the frenetic Chihuahua Tito in the 1988 release “Oliver & Company” and the hot-headed hyena Banzai left dangling at the bottom of the food chain in “The Lion King.”
Born in South Central Los Angeles and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Cheech studied English at Cal State Northridge before leaving for Vancouver, B.C., to avoid the draft. In British Columbia he met Tommy Chong, and the two formed a comic partnership so successful that they eventually moved to Los Angeles and began making the club circuit. Their success resulted in an incredibly successful string of albums, films, and concert tours. Their first album, Cheech & Chong, went gold; their second, Big Bambu, was voted 1972’s number-one comedy album; and their third, Los Cochinos, won them a Grammy®.
In 1978, Cheech and Chong made their film debut in “Up in Smoke,” which became the top-grossing comedy of the year with receipts exceeding $100 million. The team went on to make the films “Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie” and “Cheech and Chong’s Corsican Brothers” before they parted ways in 1985. Cheech went on to write, direct, and star in “Born in East L.A.” in 1987, which won three awards at the Havana Film Festival and established him as a talented filmmaker and sharp-witted social commentator.
His other film credits include “Desperado,” “From Dusk Till Dawn,” “Tin Cup,” “Paulie,” “Luminarias,” the Robert Rodriguez trilogy “Spy Kids,” “Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams” and “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over,” “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” “Christmas with the Kranks,” and “Underclassmen.”
For TV, Cheech has appeared in the 1994 telefilm “The Cisco Kid,” has starred in “Nash Bridges,” and has had recurring roles on “Judging Amy” and “The Golden Palace.”
In fall 2005, Cheech directed the Broadway production of “Latinologues,” a collection of comedic and poignant monologues revealing the Latino experience in America. In the art world, the touring exhibit “Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge” is formed at its core by Cheech’s personal art collection, one of the largest Chicano collections in the world. Cheech has stepped out in the world of children’s albums as well, recording a bilingual kids’ CD My Name Is Cheech, The School Bus Driver with its attendant followup CD My Name Is Cheech, The School Bus Driver Coast to Coast.
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